Dolores Piper v. Joshua Cabillo

MEMORANDUM

Joshua Cabillo, a South San Francisco Police officer, shot and killed fifteen-year-old Derrick Louis Lamar Gaines (“D.L.”). D.L.’s parents, Rachel Guido and Derrick Lamar Gaines, filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against Cabillo; the suit was later settled. After the parents’ suit was filed, but before the settlement, Dolores Piper also filed a pro se § 1983 action against Cabillo, seeking damages as D.L.’s “surviving great aunt and legal guardian.” Cabillo moved to dismiss, arguing that Piper lacked standing to seek damages for loss of familial relationship. Piper did not oppose the motion or request leave to amend her complaint. The district court dismissed Piper’s complaint with prejudice. We have jurisdiction over her counseled appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.

1. Although § 1983 allows a parent to reqover damages for the state’s interference with the “constitutionally protected liberty interest in the companionship and society of his or her child,” Kelson v. City of Springfield, 767 F.2d 651, 655 (9th Cir. 1985), this right does not extend to other family members, such as great aunts, see Ward v. City of San Jose, 967 F.2d 280, 283-84 (9th Cir. 1991), as…